TV Screened: Blindspot (1.4) – No, Who Are You, Really?

My second favorite new show, Blindspot has settled down into an episodic rhythm where just enough of the mythos is teased out, but the bulk of the hour is spent solving an individual conundrum. Here, Weller and Shaw/Doe tackle a ridiculous conspiracy to unleash CDC-controlled diseases on the world to help thin the population. We’ve been there and done that, okay?

Honestly, the most striking scene in the whole show was the moment when the CDC goes crazy, shoots her husband and then herself because she believes it will be ‘easier.’ I’ve never loved ‘easy’ as an answer, but here, it just goes to show that even ‘good’ can be taken to such an extreme that it becomes evil. We don’t see much of the murder/suicide, but it’s shocking enough in its conviction that we blink… and even swallow hard.

Elsewhere, we’re thrown a red herring or a white rabbit… that Doe might not be Shaw. Deputy Director of the CIA Carter threatens Assistant Director of the FBI Mayfair with decisions about Doe, implying that if Mayfair won’t cooperate that he’ll take matters into his own hands. And FBI Agent Tasha’s bookie threatens to collect his debts in three days – what that has to do with anything is beyond me.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of episode that if you’re just tuning in, you never give it another chance. Sure, Weller and Shaw are engaging characters, but a show like this needs to reveal more mythos than it does … and not settle for being The Blacklist on Mondays.

While nuggets of truth are hard to come by, the only takeaway I see here is that the only progress the team makes comes when they work together and recognize that they need each other. We’re meant for community — so why don’t we live like it?